3D printing turned me into a space marine from 'Halo 5'

A few months ago, I was at the 2015 Game Developers Conference
(GDC), when a booth outside the main hall caught my eye.

A company called 3DPlusMe had
a station set up where they were scanning the faces of attendees
with a 3D camera array and then printing them on to custom
3D-printed vinyl action figures.

3DPlusMe partners with various companies for some recognizable
licenses. At some Major League Baseball or Major League Soccer
games, 3DPlusMe sets up shop you can get your face plastered on
to a figure wearing your favorite team's jersey. They've also
offered Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings custom action
figures.

At GDC, there were two action figure options: Marvel Super
Heroes, where I could have had my face printed on to Iron Man or
Captain America, or
Halo 5: Guardians, based on Microsoft's hit first-person
shooter series, where I could make myself into a power-armored
Spartan II space marine.

I chose the shorter line. Halo 5 space marine glory
awaited.

Here's the final result, as arrived to my apartment last
night. The final products usually takes between six and
eight weeks to ship.

If you squint while looking at the photo above, you can see that
they print your Xbox Live gamertag on the base. Here's
a close-up of the
face:

Close-up of the
face.Matt
Weinberger

My
girlfriend says it's pretty creepy and makes me look like a
supervillain, but it looks just like the scan they took at the
conference:

Mapping my face onto a 3D modelMatt Weinberger

The real problem,
however, is that they're not very good action figures, since
they're basically stuck in place, and the vinyl 3DPlusMe uses has
a weird, gritty texture.

Plus, the price is a little
steep: A custom figure the size of mine runs about $45, with
prices varying based on the size. Still, it's definitely a
one-of-a-kind collectible.